Just a few weeks after the Fire HD 8 had been rooted, that procedure has been applied to the Amazon Fire 7 tablet to give it the full rooting treatment, as first spotted by Liliputing. Amazon’s least expensive tablet has had its bootloader unlocked, TWRP custom recovery created for it, and there’s already even a custom ROM available to install. Read more ›

A new software update is rolling out to Amazon Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets that adds hands-free Alexa capabilities. These tablets launched with Alexa onboard, but you had to press and hold the tablet’s home button before speaking to Alexa. Now, if the tablet is plugged into power or if the screen is on, you can simply speak to Alexa without needing to touch anything. Hands-free Alexa was previously only available on the Fire HD 10, but with this latest update, it’s now available on Amazon’s entire current tablet lineup. Only the latest 7th generation Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets, that were released in 2017, are receving hands-free Alexa capabilities.